[JCBigler]

maybe it's playing back at 48khz when it's supposed to be 44.1?

edit: although that would probably make a larger difference than 40 cents

No. Recording at 48k and 44.1 won't make a difference in pitch. If it's recorded at 44.1k and you try to play back at 48k, you will not get a pitch change. What will happen is 1) your play back system won't play it at all because the sample rates are different, or 2) it will automatically convert the sample rate to the current sample rate and play back as it should.

My guess is that you had some kind of pitch shift plug-in, or feature enabled. Or possibly a time shift feature. Check your configuration settings in the DAW system that you are using.

You may also have just been playing sharp. Maybe your tuner got recalibrated.

 

[JCBigler]

Are you running your laptop on battery when you record?

I still think it's something in the DAW. I've never used the Sound Recorder app that comes with Windows, because, like almost everything else that comes stock on a Windows PC, it sucks. But you do realize that there is an increase speed/decrease speed option in the Sound Recorder menu--under "effects", right?

Go get Audacity and see if the problem persists. Don't mess around with .mp3 conversion. Record a standard 16-bit 44.1k wave file.

The microphone type and model, preamp model, cable type, CPU model, sound card model, etc... all have nothing to do with the pitch of the recording.

If you record something at 16-bit 48k, and try to play it back with a standard media player, it will either play it back correctly, or not play it at all because the bit-rate, or sample rate is too high.

This is NOT analog tape we're talking about here. The sample rate that is recorded has nothing to do with the play back pitch. Pitch shifting capabilities is a fairly advanced and complex process which requires lots of CPU horse power.

If your recording is playing back at the original speed, at a different pitch, then you have enabled some kind of pitch correction somewhere. If your recording is playing back at a higher speed, at a higher pitch, then you have enabled some kind of speed correction.

The only other possibility is that you have your clock speed set wrong in the BIOS. restarts your computer, press (I think) F10, and go into your system set up and make sure that your clock speed is set correctly, and that it is not set to a lower speed. Also change the battery in your motherboard (probably a CR2032 type battery). If the battery is low or dead, it will not save your current set up parameters, and will default to a lower clock speed upon start up as a safety measure. Replacing the battery will ensure that your settings will be saved upon reboot.

 

[JCBigler]

So, I'm thinking that the OP found a problem, a simple solution and doesn't want to poke his head above the sand for fear of embarrassment.

Still, I'm curious what the problem was...

 

[JCBigler]

What if you are converting 24 recording bit to 16 bit?

Sounds to me like there's some kind of signal processing math going on with this though...

If you are loading a 24-bit recording into a 16-bit session, the DAW will drop the last eight bits of the source code.

I stand by my original diagnosis: that it's a user error somewhere, and not a sample rate issue. But, since the OP hasn't responded in several days, we can only assume that he figured out what he did wrong and doesn't want to fess up to being a n00b...

 

[JCBigler]

Does anyone have a REAL solution for me, other than hypothetical holy apparition changing of sample rates that I have no idea how to change back?

If you can't figure that out then, you shouldn't be using a digital audio workstation, especially one as advanced as Adobe Audition.

Several people have asked you several times for more information. SUCH AS: when you play back the sharp recording, DOES IT PLAY BACK FASTER THEN THE ORIGINAL?

You have as yet, not answered that question, which is critical to find an answer to your problem.

A fragmented hard drive, or virus infection will not cause this kind of issue (has any ever heard of a virus that infects you computer and automatically adjusts the pitch of your digital recordings?).

Also, you said in your original post that you played along with it on your keyboard. Did you tune to your keyboard also? Did someone change the pitch control on your keyboard? Have you checked YOUR tuning, YOUR KEYBOARD'S tuning with a properly calibrated tuner?

 

[JCBigler]

It couldn't handle the high sample rate of 44.1K, so I had to lower it to 16K, then convert when the mixdown was made later.

You have a Core Duo (dual core processor) laptop, and it couldn't handle a 44.1k recording?

Even so, a 16k recording is less quality than a standard phone line (which is about 22k, if I remember correctly). At 16k, you are recording at about 36% of CD quality audio (which is 16-bit/44.1k).

Methinks you did something weird when you converted your recording "at mixdown".

Uninstall Audition, reboot, and reinstall. Start a NEW session, and rerecord. Trash the old session that was recorded sharp.

 

[JCBigler]

hang on, I'm downloading AA 1.5 now. Give me about fifteen minutes.

 

[JCBigler]

JP, are you using the full version of Adobe Audition, or the demo version?

 

[JCBigler]

okay. In Adobe Audition, over on the left hand side of the screen, there is a groups of menus. In the one labels "Effects", there should be a group called "Time/Pitch".

Open those an make sure they are set to the default settings. For the "Stretch" setting, the default setting is 220.

 

[JCBigler]

my sample rate at AA, it was at 22050...not 44100. Well, voila, when I fixed it and recorded, it was fine!.

Interesting. Though I would have figured that if it was recorded at 22.05k, and played back at 44.1k it would have been pitched up an octave.

 

[JCBigler]

What software are you using? What interface?

 

[JCBigler]

I've been doing digital recording for 15 years and using Protools almost exclusively since 2004 and have never had a single recording change pitch unless I told it to.